Bookish | Where to Shop Books Online Internationally


If you love reading as much as I do, then you're most likely to face the problem that I ALWAYS seem to face ALL DA TIME. Which is, 'not being able to find the book I'm looking for in local bookstores'.

Believe it or not, this is the most common problem for book nerds all around the world. It may seem trivial, but enduring the temptation to buy a certain book one's been pining for so long can lead to a sleep deprivation, stress, and other mental and health problems. Fortunately, I've been in that position before, so I'm here to help you prevent those things from happening to you. I'm going to list some websites that hopefully will be useful for you. Some of them are only available in certain countries, and some of them are available worldwide.

Here are the websites you should seek when you're in search for a certain book:



This online bookstore ships worldwide. I have tried ordering once, and the books were sent safely and intact, the packaging was also neat. Plus, the shipping is FREE (for certain countries, but the list is pretty long so I'm sure your country is also listed there). You can choose whether to pay using PayPal or Credit Cards.


This is where I order my books on a monthly basis. It's an Indonesian bookstore, so it only serves in Indonesia. But nuff said, they've never disappointed me. They respond to complaints and questions very fast. It's also cheaper than most bookstores in Indonesia. You can choose whether to pay using Bank Transfers or Credit Cards.


If you live in India, then this one is for you. It's actually an all-item-shop kinda thing. You can shop cell phones, clothes, and much other stuff, including books. I've read some testimonials of the website and most of them are positive. The prices aren't that expensive either.


This one is quite similar to Book Depository. The shipping is also free, and it ships worldwide. You can also buy used/secondhand books here, so maybe if you're a collector or a lover of antique books, you might find what you're looking for. And, if you have too many books on your bookshelf, you can also sell them here.


That's right. Amazon. I've never actually bought anything from Amazon, but when it comes to books, I have to admit that Amazon has everything. The only reason that restrains me from shopping here is the fact that it doesn't ship for free worldwide. If you live in the U.S. or probably England, then Amazon is perfect for you. But if you don't, you have to spend at least $35 to get free shipping, and the book still would be in your hands after 3-4 months of waiting on your porch.

This isn't exactly an online bookstore. It's more like a search engine to go through all bookstores on the internet. If you don't want to waste your time opening too many tabs of bookstores, try using this site. All you need to do is type the title and the author of the book you're looking for, and the search engine will show you a list of all the online bookstores that provide it.


eBay not only sells electronics, cars, collectibles, but also books. The prices are pretty cheap, in my opinion. They also ship internationally. But unfortunately, you have to pay for the shipping cost. The standard international shipping cost is around $12.


Fishpond is an online bookstore from New Zealand that ships internationally. It also provides free worldwide shipping and considerable prices. I haven't tried this one yet, but as far as I can tell, it looks promising. It's originally an Australian store, but now it ships internationally.


This one is pretty famous and only ships to U.S. and Canada. You can find any books you're looking for here, they have everything. The physical bookstore is also awesome (not that I've been there). You should go there, it's basically heaven for book nerds like me.


That was the list of all the online bookstores I suggest you to try. The best ones for me are Periplus and Book Depository, but it's up to you to choose the one you like. There are still a lot of other bookstores that yet I have listed, and if the above don't suit you, try looking for others. 

And before you leave..

Where do you usually shop books online? If you have any recommendation, feel free to comment! And also, this is the first Bookish Tips post that I've created. Do you have any suggestions about the upcoming tips I should make? Any particular ideas you want me to write about? I'd be glad to fulfill your request!


Written by Inas

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